


Sleeping Beauty

by vivific



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: (bc sorey's passed out from a fever and mikleo imagines things), First Kiss, Fluff and Angst and Fluff in that order, M/M, Non-Consensual Kissing, the other seraphs and Rose show up a bit but otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivific/pseuds/vivific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sorey has a fever and knocks out for the day. Mikleo volunteers to look after him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this a few months ago idk it didn't look too bad so I might as well post it
> 
>  
> 
> [Check me out on tumblr for more stuff on writing.](http://imaginal.tumblr.com/)

Mikleo was the first one to notice something's off. Of course he is.

Sorey slept in a lot, unworried by any time-sensitive tasks or jobs, but sleeping in well past noon was pushing it.

"He has a fever," Lailah could not sound more worried if she tried.

"I'll go make some ice." Mikleo offered immediately.

"I better go and pay for another night." Rose sighed, exasperated. "I hope I don't catch anything." She paused in front of the door, then spun around curiously.

"Do Seraphim get sick?"

Mikleo pointedly looked away and busied himself with brushing aside Sorey's sweat dampened bangs. The Shepherd's face was flushed and radiating heat. He must had fallen ill sometime during the night.

"Not usually," Zaveid shrugged. "We've been around for so long we're pretty much immune to everything."

"Hmm..." Mikleo didn't see Rose give him a look, but heard the door open and close.

"Well, guess that puts us on a sick day. Can't do anything with a sick Shepherd." Edna twirled her closed umbrella instinctively.

"Well, time for a break then." Zaveid grinned. Lailah sighed.

"It's a good thing Rose is here. It'd be a lot harder to care for Sorey if there wasn't another human around."

Mikleo hummed in agreement. "I'll go get some ice."

It didn't take too long before Sorey's room was mostly empty.

Rose didn't want to risk catching anything (the only thing worse than a sick Shepherd was a sick Shepherd _and_ Squire), so she was wandering around town for a while. Lailah, after being reassured by Mikleo that he knew how to take care of Sorey, headed off somewhere with Edna, who didn't really care for the healing processes of humans. Zaveid vanished hours after the discovery of Sorey's illness, but Mikleo wasn't too sure he wanted to know what the Wind Seraph got up to in his free time anyway.

So it left Mikleo alone with a feverish Sorey. Which suited him fine. It was just like the other times when the boy collapsed after bonding with a Seraph. Mikleo would keep his fever down and watch over him while reading books.

Mikleo would never admit, least of all to Sorey, that re-reading books bored even him after a while, nor that it was far more entertaining to discuss them with someone else, but that would make the Shepherd feel guilty, and Mikleo would hate that.

On the first re-read of a book about Pendrago's history, Mikleo got up to change the wet towel on Sorey's forehead. He kept time with the clock on the wall, but somehow it felt that each of the half hour intervals felt much longer than they were.

Sorey's fever hadn't fallen in the slightest, but Mikleo was sure the Shepherd would be all right.

Somewhat.

Mikleo placed the cool towel on Sorey's forehead. The Shepherd murmured something incoherent in his feverish haze, shifting in bed uncomfortably.

"Sorey?" Mikleo whispered, unsure if the boy was waking up or was simply dreaming.

Sorey's eyes cracked open. He opened his mouth and breathed out slowly.

"Your fever hasn't broken yet," Mikleo warned, pressing a hand to Sorey's forehead. He winced at the hot heat consuming the Shepherd's body. As a Water Seraph, his body temperature wasn't consistent with a human's, but even he could tell that Sorey was still sick.

"Mi..." Sorey needed water.

Mikleo hurriedly left and came back with a glass of cold water.

It took a while for Sorey to even sit up without causing himself a headache. Mikleo kept his hands pressed to Sorey's skin, hoping his powers would offer some relief to the human.

"Thanks," Sorey whispered, after the glass has been emptied.

"Are you gonna go back to sleep?" Mikleo asked, setting the glass down.

"I don't know. Can you help me stand? I wanna brush my teeth, at least."

Mikleo gave the human a look.

"You're still burning up, can you even walk?" He crossed his arms.

"Of course I can," Sorey insisted, though less enthusiastically as he would have had he not been ill.

Eventually Mikleo acquiesced, though it took nearly ten minutes for Sorey to make it back to bed.

"Go back to sleep, you're sick," Mikleo practically shoved Sorey back under the sheets.

"But it's so hot-"

"That's the point. We gotta break your fever. What did you even _do_?"

"I didn't do anything! I'm a human, we get sick from anything." Sorey shook his head in defence.

Mikleo was unconvinced. In their childhood, Sorey had mostly gotten sick from the cold when they went out ruins exploring in the rain or winter. Then again, they had only been around the other Seraphim, so he didn't really have any illnesses to catch.

"Are you sure about that? Because you're still burning up." Mikleo pressed his hand to Sorey's forehead.

Sorey rubbed at his eyes, making a show of batting away Mikleo's hand. "I'm," he yawned, "fine..."

"Mhm..."

"Really!" Sorey said, unconvincingly. He yawned again. "You'll stay with me, right?"

"Of course," Mikleo smiled, "Someone has to make sure you don't die."

Sorey laughed, albeit weaker than he usually would. His eyelids slid shut and soon his breath evened out.

Mikleo gave the Shepherd a quick glance before leaving for another wet towel. It was strange to see Sorey genuinely sick.

After placing the cold towel on his friend's forehead, the Water Seraph sat back in his chair, picking up the book he had set down. He flipped back to where he had begun rereading, and started again.

For half an hour the only sounds in the room were Sorey's breathing and the flipping of pages from Mikleo's book.

Realising that it was time to change the towel again, Mikleo put down his book and quietly neared the edge of Sorey's bed. He reached out and touched Sorey's cheek, feeling the hotness of the fever clash starkly against the coolness of his own skin.

He reached for the towel, when Sorey shifted and managed to get his arms out from under the heavy layers of sheets. Sorey caught Mikleo's arm and brought it close to him in an embrace.

Mikleo found himself leaning on Sorey's bed, his arm at an angle as the sleeping human hugged it, pressing his face against the palm of his hand. The towel fell to the side.

Was it just the coolness of the Water Seraph's skin? Mikleo found himself blushing.

"S-Sorey." The name came out as a whisper for some reason. He shook the Shepherd with his free hand. "Sorey!"

Sorey dozed on, oblivious to everything, especially the fact that Mikleo's arm was very quickly starting to lose feeling. The Seraph tried to pry himself from the grip of the human, but Sorey clung to him stubbornly.

"Sorey-" Mikleo cut himself off as the Shepherd's hands crawled up to his shoulders and pulled him down. Disliking the idea of losing balance and smacking in his head on the side of the bed frame, Mikleo found himself clinging to Sorey and reluctantly shifted so he wasn't dangling off the edge of the mattress.

Sorey still wasn't awake.

Mikleo could have just screamed. And he could have. The other Seraphim and Rose were still out, however, if they came back in...

He'd never hear the end of it.

"Sorey!" Mikleo hissed. He could not believe how deep asleep his friend could be sometimes. Granted, he was sick, but this was ridiculous!

"Sor-" Mikleo gave a small squeak of surprise as Sorey pulled him closer, intertwining their legs and pulling Mikleo close to his chest.

He was definitely never going to hear the end of it if the others returned just then.

It wasn't like it was the first time this had happened. Sorey was like an octopus when he was asleep, all arms and legs and really, _really_ into cuddling with the nearest object or person.

Mikleo was frequently the object and the person. He didn't sleep after all. His limbs could, though.

In the position they were now, Mikleo could practically feel the heat on his face, though whether that was from Sorey or his own embarrassment, he could not tell.

"Mikleo..." Sorey murmured, his voice clearer than before. He pulled Mikleo closer, and the Seraph briefly wondered if his friend was trying to suffocate him into his chest.

Hands pressing against said area, Mikleo wondered if he actually could.

"Sorey..." He meant to sound warning, exasperated, but to his surprise he responded in the same tone Sorey had. Almost wistful.

Mikleo was going to die.

"Please wake up." Mikleo groaned, feeling his face grow hotter. "Please wake up or I swear I'll just push you off the bed, sick or not."

Sorey didn't respond to his threat. Mikleo readied himself to at least push himself off the bed, but Sorey adjusted his hold on him and made a little whining noise.

Damn it.

Mikleo paused, sure that if Sorey's body heat wasn't already making him feel like he was on fire, the embarrassment of the situation would have.

He looked up from Sorey's chest and blinked. Sorey was clearly deep asleep, his face relaxed and calm. A hint of a smile was on his lips, though Mikleo couldn't be sure from his angle.

A stray thought fluttered into his mind, of a fairy tale told during their childhood. A story about a eternally slumbering princess who could only be woken by a true love's kiss.

Mikleo shook his head vehemently. Nope, nope nope nope. No.

He wasn't even going to try. Sorey would just have to wake up on his own.

Minutes passed, and Mikleo found himself bored. At least when he was reading, there was something to do. Trapped in Sorey's arms, he only had himself for company.

And his sanity was surely slipping away.

It's not like Sorey would know, a part of his mind whispered to him, he was asleep after all. And if he did wake up, he wouldn't wake up during the kiss.

Not that it would be that long. It wasn't like Mikleo actually wanted anything out of it, but true love didn't have to be romantic.

Even if there was a possibility that he felt it was.

Mikleo furrowed his brows. Could he actually...?

No, no, there was too much to risk if Sorey woke up. Yet it wasn't as though it would actually work, and Mikleo always did want to know...

He was going to set himself on fire with how hard he was blushing. If Sorey's ridiculously high fever didn't do it first. How the human wasn't on fire himself was beyond the Seraph.

Half an hour into being trapped by the monster that were Sorey's arms, Mikleo couldn't bear it anymore.

He looked up at Sorey's face for what seemed to be the hundredth time, and breathed in. How did kisses go, again?

He buried his face into Sorey's chest. He should really just forget it all.

But he wanted to know, was curious about it, and he knew he could never bring himself to ask Sorey if he were awake.

Again, the fairy tale was a fairy tale, it wasn't like Sorey would actually wake up.

Besides, he had nothing better to do. And if, by some chance, Sorey did wake up, at least Mikleo would be free of his grasp before the others returned.

Resolve reaffirmed, Mikleo breathed in and out, then, slowly inched forwards until his lips pressed against Sorey's.

A second passed, and he pulled back, ducking his head down as a blush rose to his cheeks.

Nothing had happened, it wasn't like he had expected anything to, but he felt like there was something more that should have.

He looked up again, cautiously. Dared he try once more?

Sorey slumbered on.

Mikleo stared at the sleeping Shepherd and steeled himself.

One more time, he told himself, just once more. A small bit of indulgence.

He shuffled up so that his face was level with Sorey's. He shivered slightly at the friction between them, even covered by layers of clothes. Sorey's grip around his shifted and tightened.

Mikleo breathed out slowly, cupped his hands on each side of Sorey's face, and leaned in to kiss him.

Sorey was warm, of course, from the fever. He had cooled down some time after caging Mikleo in his embrace, but this warmth was different. Mikleo found it akin to the warmth of being inside Sorey's soul. Not exact, but similar.

Sorey's lips were dry against Mikleo's own, likely from his fever. Mikleo felt the cool of his own lips spread to Sorey's. Being a Water Seraph had its advantages.

Sorey was warm, Mikleo concluded. Warm as a human, warm as a person. And the heat from the fever was unlike the warmth of Sorey's soul and body. He pressed himself closer, willing the natural temperature of his own body to even out that of Sorey's.

Eventually he pulled back, not because he needed air, but because he had told himself it'd only be a brief kiss. Sorey hadn't woken up, either.

Mikleo felt strange, his hands still lingering on the sides of Sorey's face. He felt that he had understood something from kissing Sorey, but also that something was missing.

A strange feeling of sadness enveloped him. He stilled.

It reminded of him when they had first met Alisha, when the idea of Sorey leaving Elysia for the human world became a reality. The idea of not being able to be around Sorey forever, to explore ruins together and to experience life together.

Mikleo's hands retracted. He closed his eyes.

Even if Sorey could see and hear the Seraphim, he was still a human, and he still had the limited lifespan of a human.

Mikleo had no doubt that Sorey was pure of heart, so pure that perhaps he could be reborn as a Seraph, but...

Becoming a Seraph would mean losing his memories of a human. Mikleo knew that Sorey would retain his preferences and important memories from his human life, but would that necessarily include him?

Had he learned of it before leaving Elysia, Mikleo would have been certain Sorey would remember him. But afterwards...

Without realizing it, Mikleo began to cry. He sniffled, wiping at his eyes in surprise.

He had known for years, of course, that Sorey would leave for the human world, but even if Sorey became a Seraph, could live as long as Mikleo, there was no guarantee he would remember him.

Mikleo began to tremble. It was unnecessary, Sorey wasn't going to die that quickly, they still had to face Heldalf and all the Shepherd business. There was still so much they had to do.

But years weren't as long to Seraphim as they were to humans. Seraphim could live up to thousands and thousands of years, or even so long that one could not remember how long they had been living.

And humans could only live up to a hundred years at most...

Mikleo brushed away his tears. Why was he crying? It was too early to cry. He shook in Sorey's arms, the Shepherd still asleep. Tears trickled down the side of his face, and he desperately wished to get out of Sorey's grasp before the other could wake and notice.

"Mikleo?"

Too late, Mikleo met Sorey's gaze. The human blinked, green eyes slightly hazy from sleep, but focusing with concern at the tears.

"Mikleo-!" Sorey reached for Mikleo's arms, but Mikleo pushed away, nearly falling off the bed as Sorey finally relinquished his hold on him.

"It's nothing," Mikleo stumbled out of bed, nearly tripping over his own slightly numb feet. He wiped frantically at his eyes, but the tears did not stop.

Sorey leaving him, Sorey dying, Sorey forgetting about him...

Mikleo sobbed for something that hadn't even happened yet, something that may never happen, and yet the mere idea of it stabbed into his heart like a physical dagger. Even on a basis of friendship, he didn't want it to happen.

"Mikleo..."

Mikleo shuffled away at Sorey's touch, the Shepherd shakily getting out of bed to comfort his friend. He sniffled, willing the tears to stop, and turned around.

"Go back to bed," he ordered, despite the stream of tears still streaking down his face. "You're still sick."

"And you're upset," Sorey responded, a hand gently cupped around the side Mikleo's face. Sorey wiped away a tear with his thumb.

Mikleo covered Sorey's hand with his own, tears still flowing.

"I-" Mikleo stammered, a sob caught in his throat. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Sorey's other hand mimicked his left, caressing Mikleo's face. "It's all right, whatever it is."

Mikleo shook his head, only slightly so as not to dislodge Sorey's hands. His own fell to his sides. His eyes darted down to the floor.

"No, not it won't be." Mikleo felt a new wave of tears rushing forward. "It won't be okay that you'll die someday and leave me, or come back as a Seraph and forget all about me."

Mikleo closed his eyes and hugged himself tightly.

"I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you."

The words came out as a whisper, and Mikleo pulled away, turning from the surprised human and wiping at his tears once more.

A few moments of silence passed, and then Mikleo found arms wrapping around his waist. Sorey leaned against him, his head perched on Mikleo's shoulder. His breath tickled Mikleo's ears.

"You won't lose me," Sorey murmured. Mikleo wanted to believe him. "And even if you did, I'd never forget about you, ever."

Mikleo laughed weakly. How he wanted to believe Sorey, how he wished things would turn out that way, but what if they didn't? What if Sorey did forget about him?

"Humans reborn as Seraphim still keep some things from when they were human, don't they?" Sorey asked rhetorically. "I wouldn't be myself if I didn't remember you."

Mikleo sniffled, realizing his tears had stopped. He turned around slowly and hugged Sorey back.

"Thank you." He whispered, burying his face into Sorey's shoulder.

Sorey chuckled, hugging him tightly. "You're welcome."

They stayed in the embrace for a few moments, Mikleo hearing the beating of Sorey's heart and faintly wondering if it would ever stop one day. Then...

"Your fever's gone down!" Mikleo pulled away and pressed a hand against Sorey's forehead. Still warm, but much less so than before.

"Haha, really?" Sorey took Mikleo's hand and pressed it to his cheek. Mikleo flushed at the action, remembering what that had lead to.

"I guess it broke while you were asleep," he said, turning away and trying to inconspicuously tug his hand away.

"Hmm... I had a really interesting dream though." Sorey said, finally letting go and allowing Mikleo to guide him back to the bed.

"Oh, yeah?" Mikleo said absentmindedly, trying to fix the sheets, the words not quite registering to him.

"I dreamt that I was in a fairy tale," Mikleo froze and felt his face heat up. He prepared himself for the worst as Sorey took his hand and turned him around. He was smiling slightly.

"A-and?" Mikleo didn't dare look away.

Sorey laughed, and pulled the Seraph closer. "Well, I woke up, didn't I?"

Mikleo was about to pull away and bury his face in his hands when Sorey closed the space between them and kissed him.

Mikleo jumped a bit at the sudden action, but smiled into the kiss somewhat, cupping Sorey's face. He closed his eyes and leaned in, satisfied by the familiar, level warmth of Sorey's touch.

There was a creaking noise and Mikleo opened had time to open his eyes before the door swung open.

"Hey, is he- Oh."

Sorey broke apart first, Mikleo still frozen like a deer in the headlights.

"Whoa, we interrupting something here?" Zaveid grinned from above Rose's shocked face.

"It's about time." Edna deadpanned, a smirk on her lips.

Lailah clapped her hands together and gave a small squeal.

Mikleo didn't wait for the rest of the commentary and retreated back into Sorey's soul. The warmth of the Shepherd wrapped around him like a protective cover.

He was never going to hear the end of it after all.


End file.
